[Feedback Friday #28] - June 5, 2015

Want design feedback for your new game? Then you've found the right thread! Post here to get precious player feedback. Discuss until next Friday, when we'll lock the old and start anew.

How To Ask For Feedback?

• Show - Pics, videos, or best of all, a playable game!
• Be Concise - Who's got time for Wall 'O Text? Less is more

How To Give Feedback?

• Be Positive - Finding redeeming qualities in the worst of games, is in itself a game
• Focus On The Design - Not the designer
• Be Specific - "Your game sucks!" is for nubs

What To Show?

• Minimally Viable Product (MVP) - Core game play >>> everything else
• How To Scope Small (Unity tutorial)

Gigi

[PS - Feedback Friday #27 is here]

 

Hello friends
XCOM claimed my soul for a couple weeks
But here is my latest build:
Webplayer (36mb)

There's a little UI clutter left
I rebuilt my whole AI to resolve some issues, which was partially successful
And I tried making a "How to play" screen without using a single word, only images.



Apart from the second last line, I feel this is all pretty idiot proof. Literally, as I showed it to my wife and asked her if she could figure it all out, and she is clueless when it comes to games.

I'm gonna add music, polish the UI a bit and fix up some GUI buttons that are misbehaving. Apart from that, I'm not sure what I'm missing. I might still add the military style rank system Asvarduil suggested. Probably will, as that sort of level-up mechanic tends to keep people playing.

Please give it a whirl if you have a chance and let me know what you think.

 

I got to round 9, the enemies kept stealing the boxes and it seems like the rocks pick up powerups as well. So do some boxes contain bombs that hurt you, I tried shooting all boxes thinking they might explode the bomb ones but i still got hurt when I touched it. And it didnt seem like killing enemies gave you anything so i just decided to avoid all boxes and go after coins and got to round 13

 

Thanks!
So if you stay near a box for 2-3 seconds, its contents will be revealed. As feared, that was not clear enough in the instructions. I have an idea for how to better explain it in my how-to and how to better indicate it in game. Maybe I should also make it so you can shoot the box to see the contents, instead of just destroying it.

Killing enemies just gives you points and makes the map safer. I think your reaction to the lack of incentive for killing them is natural. I see now that I can't get away with not having some leveling system.

I was also considering adding a shop on the map, where you can spend your coins to buy health and ammo. Good idea, bad idea? Pointless? Maybe after reaching a certain round, rank, or something?

Thanks a lot for your feedback, and thanks for playing so long!

 

Oh JimmyP...I think you're ready for a little bit of feedback!

What Works
First, the mechanics of your game are generally simple - collecting coins is good. Popping monsters is good. Surviving is good. Getting hit with bombs or rocks isn't. The game is understandable.

The assets you're using are actually pretty good, and the game looks good in motion. It's not yet perfect, but you said you've got some polish to do. So, well done!

The sound effect design is pretty good; most things make sounds I would expect them to make. This helps your game make sense.

The game is internally consistent - enemies can, and will go for coins and powerups just like the player. This subtly reinforces that everything is playing by the same rules. That was great for my immersion, and also made finding ways to pop enemies a higher priority.

What Doesn't Work
The crate mechanic was a bit confusing at first; standing near a crate eventually reveals the contents (useful when bombs start appearing.) I don't think the crate mechanic is bad, since you're asking the player to make a risk reward decision - do I plow over the crate and hope it has something useful, or stay near it? Instead, I'd recommend using either an animation or a progress bar of some kind to let the player know that Ball Dude is opening the crate.

As far as balance, I think the weapons are currently a bit too scarce; given that the game handles quite a bit like a twin-stick shooter, I expected to be able to attack enemies immediately. Now, a twin-stick survival game isn't a bad idea. I'd recommend making the pistol more common, and the assault rifle rarer.

The TL;DR
I think you're on the right track. Some balance, a bit of polish, and I think you'll be on the ball.

 

Akiro:

Latest Build (06.06.2015)

Spoiler: My thoughts

My thoughts and ideas:
I want Akiro to be really easy to just pick up and play for a couple minutes. One of my biggest inspirations for the game is Super Mario Bros 2, and I didn't even realize it until a lot later in development. Especially on the music part, I want some sort of "upbeat happy tune" whereas it instantly brings the player into a simple and easy world he/she can spend a few minutes, or longer if they want.

Colors:
I'm unsure if I want the player to be able to choose colors, or have them random. Choosing feels more personal, but random adds to the simplicity feel of the game.

Music:
For now I use two small tunes I made two years ago. I've done very little chipping, and I just added these two as placeholders. For now, the music is very slow. Here are a couple examples of the 'feel' I'm hoping to achieve:
Super Mario Bros 2 - Character select (Thinking something similar to this in main menu)
Super Mario Bros 2 - Overworld theme (Something like this ingame)

I'm mostly interested in hearing what you guys think about the colors, as well as the current musical feel vs. the links I added (SMB2). But I gladly accept any feedback, and especially if you feel something doesn't work.

 

My turn? In March, I posted the Minimally Viable Product (MVP) version of Block 64. After that, I took a break, to spend time with my family, healing. Until a month had passed. That's when looking more closely at my analytics, I began to realize that people enjoyed my tiny, 16 day bullet. The retention rates were approaching 20% (the industry standard for a good game)! So, over time, I began to slowly improve it. I added 'Zap', at my wife's request. I added upgrades, diamonds, and skins. Finally, when the coding was all done, I sought an artist over on Unity's Job forum. That's where I found Peter Simon.

I upgraded my tiny bullet into a small canon-ball. And if you have an Android device, I'd love your feedback.



Title: Block 64!

Android Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goodgamesbydesign.block64



Gigi

Notes:

• Some of the assets are still propogating - if you see bright-GREEN, then it's an old image.
• Apologies, in advance for reposting next week - I was late.
• I'll port to iOS after a few weeks of feedback.
• Roughly ~9000 lines of code, plus ~1200 lines of utility code.
• Future plans - more skins, particularly animated ones (EPIC).

 

@Jimmy P

What I liked

• It feels very Indie to me. I like the concept.
  
• I think the gameplay is solid except for what is noted in the section below.
• The area was set up well.
• I think the game looks good and the enemies have a cool appearance and good behavior.
• The randomization of enemy and crate locations in each area (at least it seemed like they were random?)

What I think can be improved

• The control could be improved. Adding support for the arrow keys would help a lot for people like me who hate WASD for movement.
• The view. I would like to be able to see a little more of the playfield at one time. Try moving the camera a little further away. Also you might want to consider doing it straight top down view and see how that works out.
  
• More feedback. I would like to see and hear more feedback when destroying crates, hitting the enemies, being hit by the enemies and collecting items. This is a biggie that will add a lot to the experience.

Summary

I like it. It has a real Indie feel. When I think of Indie games this is the kind of thing that comes to mind. In fact, I often wonder why so many Indies (these days!) are trying to put out basically clones (or mini clones) of AAA or otherwise popular games. To me a big part of the appeal of Indie games is to find "something different" maybe even "something weird but in a good way".

 

@Gigiwoo

What I liked

• This a very solid and original game (or at least it seems to me - not played one exactly like this before)
• The graphics are very good. Much improved over the earlier version I play-tested
  
• I appreciate the sound FX. Great job on feedback! Very nice touch with the pieces that cannot fit onto the board kind of wiggling around

What I think can be improved

• The only suggestion I have is to offer different game modes: Row Fill, Column Fill and Color Matching. Currently you have the Row Fill mode. Allowing the player to select different modes OR having each board just automatically use a different mode would add some nice variety and may keep players playing longer. My apologies if the game already has these. All I ever did was fill rows because, for some reason, that is what I thought I was supposed to be doing. lol

Summary

I like it. You have done a great job on this game. I can tell you put a lot of attention to detail into the game. Now, I think all you need to do is max out this concept with some different modes of play to add variety.

 

@Mothil

What I liked

• The game concept is very good.
  
• The graphics are very good and I really like the variety of ocean critters
• The atmosphere was good it definitely felt like I was playing an underwater game
• The movement mechanic. I think your choice to have the player not only always moving but also always turning makes for a very interesting and challenging game. Definitely makes the game feel different from most.

What I think can be improved

• More feedback would be nice. Some sense of knowing if I am doing good or sucking.
• I think to go along with the continual motion and turning mechanic it would be good to award the player points for every 5 seconds they stay alive.
• The scoring system. Getting 1 point for eating a shrimp just feels way too tiny for the challenge involved. I think you should consider making every shrimp worth 50 to 100 points. And award the player 5 to 10 points for every 5 seconds they stay alive (so 1 to 2 points per second).
• The single mechanic is very interesting and solid. I think it would be a nice addition to either add a secondary ability such as a sonic ring that pushes enemies back a short distance OR add something like maybe a star (or shell or whatever) than when collected grants the player invulnerability for 5 to 10 seconds.

Summary

I like it. It is an interesting game. A solid foundation. Now all you need to do is jack it up a bit!

 

@Mothil - the game definitely feels rock hard (in the same vein as flappy bird), I could see it doing well on mobile based on its "purity" of the only points you can get from are eating shrimp and then its a challenge to get the highscore. The best i got was 2 points, maybe you should make the music loop (rather then restarting when your dead).

I dont have an android device otherwise i would try @Gigiwoo's game

 

And another week draws to a close. FF #29 is here.
Gigi